Thursday, December 5, 2002

by Megan Mills
Gazette Reporter

This past Tuesday, the Large Scale Events Committee met to discuss
proposals for this year’s event. The four contenders consisted of two bands
and two speakers: Sigur Ros, G. Love & Special Sauce, “Boondocks” creator
Aaron McGruder, and Mike Nelson of Mystery Science Theater 3000 fame.
However, due to mostly financial concerns, no decision was made.According
to Student Budget Committee Manager Jeff Traczynski, “the Committee has
decided to reopen the application process.”

Citing “largely budgetary reasons,” Traczynski and the rest of the
committee “looked at the costs associated with each event and decided that
the two bands were above the total budget.” The speakers, while within the
budget, seemed to fall more under the auspices of such groups as the Cooper
Foundation or the Forum for Free Speech.

The new due date will probably fall during the week that Swatties return
from winter break and will be followed by another meeting to determine if
the new proposals are feasible. Then,said Traczynski, “there will likely be
an all-campus referendum.” This procedure would bedifferent from last year,
when there was only one event that fell within thebudget and thus no need
for a vote.

Last year’s large scale event was Nickel Creek. Details will be available
soonconcerning specifics of the new application process.

*****

from the Office of News and Information

Some opponents of the anti-SUV “What Would Jesus Drive?” campaign charge
that it smacks of pagan Earth worship. But a Swarthmore College religion
professor says there is ample biblical basis for protecting the environment.

“From the story of Genesis to Jesus’s words in the New Testament, the idea
comes through that the goodness of creation is our inheritance, something
we must preserve and pass on to the next generation – not something we
possess to exploit and abuse,” says associate religion professor Mark
Wallace, who is at work on a book about the relationship between
Christianity and environmentalism.

One reason behind traditional Christian apathy toward the environment,
Wallace says, is a misunderstanding of the biblical principle of human
“dominion” over Earth. Wallace, who is expert in Hebrew, translates the
Hebrew word for “dominion” to mean “stewardship” – not “control” or
“ownership” as it is often understood.

Another reason for the disconnect between Christianity and ecology is the
traditional conception of God as separate from the Earth – a “sky God,” as
Wallace phrases it. But Wallace believes the widely accepted theory of
incarnation argues for a God of the Earth, meaning that humans honor God by
revering and protecting creation.

Wallace finds still more biblical support for environmental protection in
statements by Jesus. In the “Sermon on the Mount,” Jesus speaks of birds
and the beauty of flowers, Wallace notes. “Jesus shows a kind of intimacy
with the beauty of creation,” he says. “This intimacy teaches people today
to be equally loving toward the natural world. To me, that means we ought
to develop appropriate and sustainable technologies.”

Wallace says he is encouraged by signs that Christianity, at least in some
quarters, is accepting responsibility for the environment. “If Christianity
doesn’t wake up to our environmental crisis,” he says, “it’s going to be
partly responsible for everything we’re facing today, from pesticides in
our food to global warming.”

by Evelyn Khoo
Living & Arts Editor

For this week’s College Corner, Evelyn Khoo sits down for a chat with
Gabriel Rogers ’05 and Andrew Gregory ’04, the ever-irreverent but
charmingly gregarious hosts of WSRN’s radio gameshow, “Boticelli Your Mom,”
Sunday nights at 10:00 p.m.

Daily Gazette: What made you decide to do a radio show together?
Boticelli Your Mom: Last year we listened to “That Boticelli Show”
religiously, and decided that we wanted to continue the tradition which Dan
Schwartz ’02 and Wayne Cabradilla ’02 had botched so egregiously. We do
not, however, rely on canned sound effects to carry our show, but instead
have revolutionized the genre of Boticelli shows with our biting wit,
timely rudeness, and voluminous trivia knowledge. Boticelli on WSRN goes
back to at least 1988, and we’re proud to be the first hosts to totally
wail on our listeners.

DG: Why Boticelli? How exactly does it work?
BYM: We do Boticelli because it is the greatest ever. It’s a call-in game
show that superficially resembles 20 Questions but is in fact nuanced with
an incredible melange of twists and turns. We think of a mystery person and
listeners must discover his/her/its identity by trying to stump us with
clues about other famous folk.

DG: Why Boticelli Your Mom?
BYM: Because your mom is totally an animal in the sack.

DG: What are your moms like?
Andrew: My mom is just like Martha Stewart. But much much smarter.
Gabriel: My mom has a special tupperware container she uses to trap spiders
and then release them into the wild. She’s an artist.

DG: What has the response been like? What kind of callers do you get?
BYM: Everyone loves the show, and we have a lot of loyal weekly listeners.
We also get nuts from the ville and NYC. Sometimes we also receive calls
from our friends who don’t know how to play but for some reason think its
“nice” to call in and from DJs who’ve left their CDs in the studio.

DG: Describe your best/worst experience on-air so far.
BYM: The worst experience was our show after fall break – no one really
called in. All our other shows were ties for first. Receiving special
mention is the time we totally wailed on Ian Kysel and got his clue after 3
words: Sisyphus.

DG: If there were a camera in the WSRN room during your show, what would
viewers see?
BYM: They certainly wouldn’t see any clues. They would see us rolling our
eyes at each other about how all their clues are either stupid or easy.

DG: What do you wish you could say on radio which you can’t?
BYM: We say whatever the <expletive> we want.

DG: Any mantras or rituals before you go on-air?
BYM: Our ritual is to show up at 9:58, ask each other if we’ve thought of a
mystery person. We never have. Then we put on a bluegrass record for long
enough to think of someone.

DG: Any radio shows you seek inspiration from? Why?
BYM: Well, our (deceased) Boticelli predecessors, of course.

DG: If you could get anyone to be a guest DJ on your show who would it be
and why?
BYM: That kid who always tools on us with clues about Marvel comic book
characters. With him by our side, we would be unstoppable Boticelli hosts.

DG: If you could be any song in the world, which would you be?
Gabriel: “Howlin’ at the Moon” by Sam Bush.
Andrew: “Bicycle” by Queen.

DG: What do you like best about doing Boticelli Your Mom?
BYM: When the phones are ringing off the hook, we’ve got a good mystery
person, and we’re shooting down stumpers left and right. It’s great to have
an opportunity to joke and banter with the listeners.

DG: Will Andrew ever learn to research your mystery people so he doesn’t
blatantly mislead the listeners?
Gabriel: No. He won’t. I’ll stick by him as his fellow host, even though
he’s stupid. And more importantly, the listeners need to learn not to
expect us to give them the game. We don’t wear gloves in this arena – this
is the real deal, like Todd Heap. We play to win.
Andrew: Only a novice Boticelli player, or an idiot, would expect a wily
B’celli veteran such as me to always play by the rules. We grew up playing
on blacktops in Appalachia – don’t hate the player, hate the game.

*****

* Iraq accused U.N. inspectors of spying for Israel and the U.S. and aiding
the Bush administration in preparing for a possible war. Iraq’s accusation
comes on the heels of a statement from Washington that expressed the belief
that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. It is still
unclear whether Iraq is planning to take action against the weapons
inspectors, although Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan promised to
continue complying with the U.N. resolution demands. The U.S. dismissed the
idea of a military reaction to Iraq’s accusation.

* President Bush announced yesterday that he believed al Qaeda to be
involved in the recent anti-Israeli attacks in Kenya. Ten Kenyans and three
Israelis were killed when three suicide bombers detonated their devices in
an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa last Thursday. At nearly the same time
and place, a missile attack narrowly missed an Israeli plane taking off. “I
believe that al Qaeda will strike anywhere they can in order to disrupt
civil society,” said Bush. “I am concerned that terrorists have disrupted
the ability for peace-loving people to move a process forward.”

* Still hoping to reach a settlement with an estimated 450 sexual abuse
victims, the Archdiocese of Boston acknowledged that they were facing
bankruptcy. The Archdiocese’s finance panel voted to allow Chapter 11
bankruptcy protection, but church officials have not yet made a final
decision, which would involve obtaining approval from the Vatican. If the
diocese does file for bankruptcy, it would be the first in the U.S. ever to
do so.

*****

Search for Career Services candidate
Parrish Parlors, 11:00 a.m.

“Assembly, Organization and Communication – a Chemistry Lecture”
by Bob Pasternak
Kohlberg 115, 4:15 p.m.

Fall Student Dance Concert
Pearson-Hall Theatre, 4:30 p.m.

Aikido Club practice
Lamb-Miller Fieldhouse – Wrestling Room, 7:00 p.m.

Search for Career Services candidate
Parrish Parlor West, 7:00 p.m.

Career Services: Susquehanna Investment Group
Bond Memorial Hall, 7:00 p.m.

Feminist Majority Meeting
Parrish Parlor East, 9:00 p.m.

———–
Swarthmore Public Library Book Sale

Thursday, December 5: 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Friday, December 6: 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Saturday (Half Price Day), December 7:10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

*****

SPORTS UPDATE

by Sarah Hilding
Gazette Sportswriter

The women’s badminton team opens their season on Saturday at the Main Line
Invitational at Bryn Mawr. Despite the loss of four seniors, former captain
and first singles player Karen Lange among them, the team is confident
about the upcoming season.

Elizabeth Leininger ’04 calls this year’s squad “strong and enthusiastic”
and cites an undefeated record as a goal for this season. The team came
within three games of a perfect season last year, finishing 5-3 overall and
second at the conference tournament, beaten only by Bryn Mawr. Bryn Mawr
will most likely provide the toughest competition for Swarthmore again this
year, but the team has a healthy mix of veterans and first years to meet
the challenge.

Among the returnees are Ay-Jy Phoun ’04 and Sachie Uchimaru ’03, both of
whom where away from Swarthmore last spring. They are joined by a core of
experienced upperclassmen and five talented first years, two of whom –
Anjali Aggarwal ’06 and Jessica Larson ’06 – played varsity badminton in
high school. The line-up for the season has not yet been determined, but
players to watch include Leininger, Surbhi Gupta ’04, and Wuryati Morris
’04 . Gupta played the second singles position last year and is a possible
replacement for first singles position left open by Lange’s graduation.

A new coaching staff will head up the program this year. Head coach Jeremy
Loomis (who also serves as the women’s tennis coach) brings his wealth of
coaching experience to the team, as he works to build his own knowledge of
badminton.

“Jeremy came to Swat this year with very little badminton experience, but
he’s learning the sport quickly, [and] he is good at general coaching,”
Leininger said. Assistant coach Bhavin Parikh rounds out the coaching
staff, bringing with him his experience from playing badminton at Drexel.

After this Saturday’s match, the team has a long break before they return
to action again on January 23 against Haverford. During the second
semester, the season heats up, with 12 matches in January and February, and
continues until Nationals in April.

*****

After scoring a season-high 27 points against McDaniel on Monday, women’s
basketball co-captain Katie Robinson ’04 has earned Centennial Conference
Player of the Week honors for December 2.

Robinson was 8-for-12 from the floor for a 66.7 shooting percentage, and
10-for-12 from the line for an impressive 83.3 percent. She also recorded
six rebounds, six steals, and three assists in helping the Garnet to their
70-60 victory.

On the season, Robinson leads the conference in scoring with an average of
20.0 points per game. She is also second in steals, averaging 4.0 per game.
With the season-best total on Monday, Robinson has 866 career points,
moving her into seventh place on the Swarthmore all-time career scoring list.

*****

Sophomores Matt Gustafson and Blair Haxel led the Garnet Tide to an 86-76
victory over Philadelphia Biblical yesterday. Gustafson scored 16 points
and Haxel achieved his first career double-double by recording 13 points
and 10 rebounds. With the win, Swarthmore snapped a 15-game road losing
streak dating back to last season and improved their record to 3-3 on the
season.

*****

Today:
There are no contests scheduled for today.

Tomorrow:
Swimming in ECAC at Gloucester Tech
Women’s basketball in Seven Sisters Tournament at Wellesley

*****

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I bought some batteries, but they weren’t included.”
–Steven Wright

*****
.
Interested in reporting or writing for the Gazette?
Got a news or sports tip for us?
Just want to tell us what you think?